Prevention

Research shows that robust, evidence-informed education can help prevent gender-based violence and harassment in schools and beyond. States can and should do more than than simply address sexual assault in its aftermath. Instead, they can work to prevent violence from happening in the first place by requiring comprehensive, age-appropriate, and evidence-informed consent education for all students.

This resource is part of our State Policy Playbook. The Playbook outlines key reforms that students, advocates, and state policymakers can pursue to support survivors on campus, keep students safe, and end gender-based violence in school.

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Under the 2013 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act amendments to the Clery Act (also known as Campus SaVE), institutions of higher education are required to provide ongoing prevention and awareness education to all incoming students and employees. However, despite research indicating that long-term exposure to prevention training is key to preventing sexual and dating violence, many institutions have sought to satisfy federal requirements through a single workshop offered during orientation. States can raise the bar for consent education above the floor established by federal law by requiring schools to adhere to the following best practices.

Best Practices

Every institution of higher education should adopt a comprehensive prevention education program designed to educate community members on an ongoing basis about gender-based violence and their rights under school policy and relevant laws. A comprehensive prevention education program should be required for all incoming community members during orientation/onboarding. All community members should be required to attend a follow-up program at least once every six months.

Effective prevention programming should:

Be provided to all school community members, including first-year, transfer, and graduate students, faculty, and staff;

Be evidence-informed, medically accurate, and regularly evaluated to ensure consistency with contemporary best practices;

Be conducted in-person at all residential colleges and universities, and conducted in-person to the extent possible at all other institutions;

Be inclusive of LGBTQ and disabled people’s particular experiences and needs and clearly explain that all community members, including LGBTQ and disabled students, who experience and/or report gender violence have the same rights under school policy and applicable laws as other survivors;

Include programming that helps students identify behavior that constitutes gender-based harassment, including sexual violence, dating and domestic abuse, and stalking. This curriculum should include clear, evidence-informed information about relevant topics, including:

Conduct that constitutes gender-based harassment and violence under the school’s policies and relevant law, including concrete examples;

Unwelcome sexual conduct that creates a hostile environment, and is therefore prohibited, including examples;

The effects of trauma, including neurobiological changes and the variety of responses common for victims of violence;

The role intoxicating substances can play in facilitating incidents of gender-based violence, including the deliberate use of alcohol and/or other drugs to perpetrate sexual violence;

Include training on healthy relationship behavior;

Include bystander engagement training that teaches campus community members to support survivors who come forward;, intervene to prevent or disrupt sexual harassment and misconduct;, and challenge peers’ behavior, language, or attitudes that may create a hostile environment;

Include clear information about Title IX, the Clery Act, school policies and procedures about gender-based harassment (including sexual and dating violence), and other relevant law and policies, including:

How students can confidentially access accommodations, if they choose to do so;

Relevant mandatory reporting laws and policies;

How students can report an incident to their educational institution if they so choose;

The interim safety measures, accommodations, and on and off campus resources available to a survivor;

Disciplinary code provisions relating to sexual violence and the consequences of violating those provisions;

The roles of an institution’s Title IX coordinator, campus security officials, sexual assault response coordinators, and other campus offices that address gender-based violence;

An individual’s right to pursue a Title IX grievance process regardless of whether law enforcement proceedings are also underway;

Federal and state law protections against retaliation, including those provided by Title IX.

States should allow schools to create, at their discretion, a confidential process for offering accommodations for students who have experienced sexual violence and/or dating abuse and may find attending prevention programming upsetting.

Sexual violence and harassment does not begin in college: 56 percent of seventh through 12th grade girls report experiencing sexual harassment. Dating violence is also pervasive prior to college: the Center for Disease Control’s 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Study found that more than 20 percent of female high school students and 10 percent of male high school students report being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner over a single 12 month period. To end teen sexual and dating violence,states should require that all middle and high schoolers receive age-appropriate, evidence-informed consent and healthy relationship training on an ongoing basis.

Prevention education can reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment and teen dating abuse, inform students of their legal rights following violence, and help survivors access critical resources. Many of the most effective prevention and intervention programs are designed for young adults, making prevention programs for middle and high schools an important and age-appropriate strategy to end gender-based violence in schools and beyond.

Best Practices

In order to be effective, consent and healthy relationship education programming in middle and high schools must be evidence-informed, age-appropriate, and inclusive. Prevention education programs should:

Be provided to all school community members, including students, faculty, and staff at least once every six months;

Be evidence-informed, medically accurate, and regularly evaluated to ensure consistency with contemporary best practices;

Be conducted in-person, to the extent possible;

Be inclusive of LGBTQ and disabled people and clearly explain that all community members, including LGBTQ and disabled students, who experience and/or report gender violence have the same rights under school policy and applicable laws as other survivors;

Include programming that helps students identify behavior that constitutes gender-based harassment, including dating and domestic abuse, stalking, and sexual violence (and including childhood sexual abuse). This curriculum should include age-appropriate and evidence-informed information about relevant topics, including:

Conduct that constitutes gender-based harassment and violence under the school’s policies and relevant law, including examples;

Unwelcome sexual conduct that creates a hostile environment, and is therefore prohibited, including examples;

The effects of trauma, including neurobiological changes and the variety of responses common for victims of violence;

The role intoxicating substances can play in facilitating incidents of gender-based violence, including the deliberate use of alcohol and/or other drugs to perpetrate sexual violence;

Include training on healthy relationship behavior;

Include bystander engagement training that teaches school community members to support survivors who come forward, intervene to prevent sexual harassment and misconduct, and challenge peers’ behavior, language, or attitudes which may create a hostile environment;

Include clear information about Title IX, school policies and procedures about gender-based harassment (including sexual and dating violence), and other relevant law and policies, including:

How a student can report an incident to the institution and confidentially access accommodations, if they choose to do so, to the extent possible under state and local law;

Relevant state mandatory reporting laws and policies;

The interim safety measures, accommodations, and on and off campus resources available to a survivor;

Disciplinary code provisions relating to sexual violence and the consequences of violating those provisions;

The roles of an institution’s (or district’s) Title IX coordinator, campus security officials, sexual assault response coordinators, school counselor, school nurses, and other school personnel that address gender-based violence;

An individual’s right to pursue a Title IX grievance process regardless of whether law enforcement proceedings are also ongoing;

Federal and state law protections against retaliation, including those afforded by Title IX.

Schools should require any student who is found responsible for gender-based misconduct, but not expelled, to attend comprehensive prevention programming before returning to campus and arrange ongoing monitoring and support mechanisms to help rehabilitate the student.

Some research suggests that therapeutic interventions may reduce the likelihood that minors who perpetrate sexual violence will commit sexual violence in the future. Prevention training programs should be evidence-informed, factually accurate, and regularly evaluated to ensure that they are consistent with current best practices on preventative and rehabilitative education programs.

Resources

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